Mr. Cui Guangyong from Wangqing County, Jilin Province Dies as a Result of Persecution

18 June 2008

On the night of May 29th, 2008, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Cui Guangyong from Zhuanjiaolou Village, Wangqing County in Jilin Province passed away. His 70-year-old mother was devastated.

Mr. Cui Guangyong, 38, was an accountant for Zhuanjiaolou Village. He started to practise Falun Gong in 1996. During the 10 years when he was an accountant, he was very honest. However, the corrupt village head Li Yingzhi worried about having this honest accountant close to him, so he looked for opportunities to get rid of him. However, he was not able to find any excuse to do so.

In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution against Falun Gong. CCP members from Zhuanjiaolou Village "talked" with Cui Guangyong multiple times, trying to coerce him to give up practising Falun Gong. Despite the tremendous pressure, Cui Guangyong insisted in cultivating Falun Gong and quietly maintained his good performance as an accountant. In 2003, a practitioner was arrested and detained by police. Under torture, the practitioner unwillingly said that Cui Guangyong once gave the practitioner a copy of a leaflet about the persecution of Falun Gong.

After hearing this, Li Yingzhi led a group of police officers and arrested Cui Guangyong, without providing any identification or necessary documents. They tried to force Cui Guangyong to reveal the source of the leaflet. They threatened him and beat him; they even locked him alone in a room with the windows open, and stripped him down to his underwear so that he would be bitten by mosquitoes. Although it was in the summer, it was very cold and wet in the room during the night in this northern area. No matter what approaches the police tried, Cui Guangyong always told them that he had picked up the leaflet by chance.

They tortured Cui Guangyong for 10 days. The policemen could not find any evidence to persecute him, so they had to release him. Before he was released, Li Yingzhi extorted 3,000 yuan1 from Cui Guangyong's mother, and claimed that they could not release him until the money was paid. (Note: Because Li Yingzhi embezzled too much public money, angry villagers sued him in the spring of 2007, and he was removed from his office.)

Soon after Cui Guangyong returned home, he quit his accounting job.

Right after the Chinese New Year of 2007, Guan Qingyou, commander of the Domestic Security Division of Wangqing County, led a large group of policemen and searched the home of Cui Guangyong with the excuse that he visited "illegal" websites (actually, websites from overseas). They did not find any evidence to persecute him, so they left, telling him, "Don't visit illegal websites any more." However, they never stopped monitoring and persecuting Cui Guangyong.

In May 2007, the Domestic Security Division sent policemen from their affiliated police stations to confiscate Cui Guangyong's computer. In April 2008, Cui Guangyong got it back.

Because police constantly harassed Cui Guangyong at his home, his 70-year-old mother always trembled when she heard someone knocking at the door, fearing that her son would be arrested. Cui Guangyong's home was always monitored, and the telephone in his home was tapped. Whenever friends or family from other areas came to visit them, someone would come along to spy on Mr. Cui and his family.

Cui Guangyong lived with his parents and his brother, who had meningitis sequela. His father suffered from chronic diseases and was quite weak. He had spent most of his time in bed for the last 40 years. Mr. Cui's family's financial situation was poor and his family depended on him and his mother's work on the farm for the majority of their income. In October 2007, his brother broke his shoulder and his arms, becoming disabled. So, all the heavy farm work fell to Cui Guangyong.

On October 12th, 2007, the police announced that they would have a meeting in the township and asked Cui Guangyong to attend. Cui Guangyong and his mother refused to go since they were busy with farm work. The police said that they guaranteed that they would send Mr. Cui back within two hours. His mother confirmed with them that her son would return within two hours, then agreed to let her son go with them. However, the police had planned ahead of time. After they took Cui Guangyong away, they did not go to the meeting, but took him directly to a bus with 11 other practitioners who had been arrested. At around 8:00 p.m., several dozen policemen sent the practitioners to a "training centre" in Wangqing County, where they were detained and forced to undergo brainwashing.

They did not release these 12 practitioners until October 25th, after the 17th National Party Congress of the CCP was over. However, during these 14 days, in the cold and wet training centre, Cui Guangyong's physical health became worse and worse due to the physical and mental torture he was subjected to. He was wearing very thin clothes when he was arrested. In the middle of October, it was very cold in the northern area.

After returning home, Cui Guangyong, only 38 years old, became weaker and weaker. He passed away on the night of May 29th, 2008.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.